VISUAL AIDS IN MASONIC EDUCATION

This Short Talk Bulletin has been adapted from a paper
presented at
the Northeast Conference on Masonic Education and
Libraries in 1963
by the late Most Worshipful Brother Conrad Hahn, PGM,
Connecticut and
former Executive Secretary of The Masonic Service
Association.

In considering this subject, we must not be misled into
thinking that
we have suddenly gone modern. Visual aids in education
are not only
one of the oldest specialties in modern pedagogical
practices; they
are also among the oldest teaching devices used by man.
Even
Pythagoras used visual aids in demonstrating the 47th
Problem; he
probably traced the figure on the sand so that his
students could
visualize it. Freemasonry, likewise, has been using
visual aids ever
since it became an instructive art,
whether operative or speculative.

During the eighteenth century the lodge of each degree
was traced
upon the floor of the room in which the brethren met.
With such
designs it was possible to illustrate many of the
symbolic actions of
the ritual by actually walking the candidate through the
various
areas of the Craftmen's lodge.

By the time the nineteenth century had arrived, these
charcoal,
chalk, and clay designs on the floor (rather messy to
remove) had
given way to tracing boards or wall charts, on which the
Master or
instructor pointed to the various symbols or objects
which were
delineated thereon for the visual instruction of the
candidate. In
America the most famous of these was Jeremy Cross', The
True Masonic
Chart and Hieroglyphical Monitor. Such charts enjoyed a
vogue in the
1800's which is hard to describe to modern lodge
members, because
they are not accustomed to complete exemplifications of
the symbolic
degrees, including all sections of the lectures.

From the very beginning of symbolic initiations in
fraternal
organizations, ritualistic floor work was conceived and
intended to
be a visual as well as an auditory or dramatic aid to
the instruction
of candidates. What the candidate sees is one of the
most important
devices for impressing on his mind the spirit and tenets
of the
institution. This is why neat and proper dress, smooth
and
intelligible
rendition of speeches, clean aprons, well maintained
costumes,
precise and well rehearsed movements--all are important
visual aids
to impress upon the initiate the dignity, decorum,
philosophy and
traditions of Freemasonry. Any discussion of visual aids
for Masonic
education, therefore, should begin with an insistance on
thorough,
competent, ritualistic floor work. Good ritual
exemplification is a
"must" in Masonic instruction, for seeing is believing.

Most of us, however, in talking about visual aids in
education, have
in mind such modern mechanical devices as films, motion
picture
projectors, film strips, tachistoscopes, graphs, speed
reading
machines, etc. Grand Lodge committees on Masonic culture
or education
would be well advised to go slowly in considering plans
for promoting
the use of many such devices in the constituent lodges
as a
result of the advice of well-meaning brethren who are
"experts" in
the field of visual education. There are definite
limiations on the
use of modern visual aids in Masonic lodges.

The chief function of a Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic
Culture or
Education, so far as visual aids are concerned, should
be the
collecting and collating of information about visual
aids. What
Masonic or other suitable films, slides, film strips,
projectors,
stereopticans, charts, etc. are there available within
the
Jurisdiction. Where? Which are available on loan, or for
purchase, or
rental?
What are the best one.s for lodge halls or larger
auditoriums? All
these questions can be answered by experts in the field
of visual
education, or by representatives of corporations which
manufacture
visual aids equipment, and which have spent much time
and money in
researching this area.

For many years Masonic lodges have limited their use of
visual aids
to slides projected through a stereoptican, to
illustrate the symbols
explained in the lectures of the degrees. As a matter of
fact, such
slides (or film strips) are practically the only visual
aids
equipment advertised in the catalogs of Masonic Supply
companies. Of
course, some Grand Jurisdictions do not permit their
use.

I trust I shall not be completely misunderstood when I
say,
"Brethrcn, it's time for a change!" The available slides
and film
strips are as dated as antimacassars and Morris Chairs;
they are
artistically crude and uninspiring. Some are horrible
examples of
over-crowded design or composition. Some are
illogical in the point of view presented throughout a
series, jumping
from the ancient to the Victorian, and back to a
mediaeval
conception. They don't impress well-educated initiates;
they bore
them or cause them to laugh.

I have never forgotten my first impressions of the four
cardinal
virtues explained in the E.A. degree. There were flashed
on the
screen four stiff, amply bosomed goddesses of doubtful
Greek origin,
so vacant in their expressions, and so voluminously
draped in a mid-
Victorian fashion, that when Prudence appeared, I
instinctively
shuddered and said to myself, "Her name may be Prudence,
but the
only thing her father and mother taught her was prudery
. "

I'm not asking for an Epstein nude or a spidery Modern
Calder mobile;
but certainly we have enough gifted Brothers in the arts
of design
and painting, who could produce symbolic suggestions of
the four
cardinal virtues more appropriate to the age of Space,
not to have to
put up with that dull and listless
stuff any longer.

In fact, with the enthusiasm for photography prevalent
today, and
with the excellent equipment being used by shutter-bugs
in every
community, lodges could be encouraged to initiate some
"do it
yourself" projects for visual aids of this kind. Glass
slides can
still be made fairly cheaply on the handicraft basis.
Some Brothers
with skills in sketching and design could be put to work
to make such
illuminated aids for ritualistic instruction in the
lectures of the
three degrees. The more we can give new members some
challenging and
interesting projects to complete, the more we shall
capture and hold
their interest in Masonry .

The commonest area of interest in visual aids,
especially in Masonic
lodges today, is motion pictures, not primarily for
instructional
purposes, but for purposes of entertainment and
inspiration. Here
again, Grand Lodge Committees should consider their
function to be
simply that of a clearing-house or information center.
Some value
judgments will have to be made concerning the kinds of
films to list,
because willy-nilly, such catalogs of films will become
"official,"
in the sense that "the Grand Lodge approves these films
for lodge
use." Film library experts should be consulted and used
in this kind
of work.

The most logical place to start is with the Film Library
at the state
university. Practically all of them maintain prints of
motion
pictures for educational and inspirational use which are
available to
schools, civic agencies, clubs, and industrial training
programs. The
rental fees are usually quite modest. Every Grand Lodge
Committee on
Masonic Information could work up such a list of
recommended films
for lodge programs, by consulting the film librarians at
their state
universities.

Businesses and industrial corporations sometimes make
available an
outstanding play or special program which they sponsored
as a
television program. These films, if available, are
usually listed in
the film catalogs or agencies like the ones mentioned
above.

In addition, corporations arc also producing films for
their own
public relations programs; and while many of these are
fundamentally
"sales talks" to push their own products, some of thcm
rise above
that level and become valuable programs for general
education .

Really, the greatest problem in developing a catalog of
films for
lodge use is NOT where to turn or what to look for; it's
the fact
that you can never stop. Such lists will have to be
revised and added
to year after year.

Let me also remind you that your Masonic Service
Association has
produced some films for lodge use,--primarily to furnish
good
speakers via the movie camera for lodges which cannot
bring
outstanding speakers into their lodges. M.S.A. maintains
a library of
Masonic films which are available for a small rental
service fee.

While I do not believe that Committees on Masonic
Education should
encourage the use of motion pictures as the principal
programming
device for their constituent lodges, especially for
"educational" or
"inspirational nights," I am sure that we all agree that
these visual
aids have a definite place in the over-all improvement
of lodge
activities, especially in helping Masters bring light to
the Craft.
But Masters need help. They need information. and that
is why I
suggest that such committees limit their function to
provide film
catalogs and lists to benefit the lodges of their
Jurisdiction .

There is indeed a God's plenty in this particular area
of visual
aids. Consult the experts. It some of them are Brothers,
put them to
work. They'll like their Masonry better if they can
serve it
usefully.

Motion pictures are here to stay. They can serve the
great purposes
for which we are laboring here. So let there be
light-about visual
aids as well as about mentor systems and lodges of
instruction.

Editors Note: Films available from The Masonic Service
Association
are listed and summarized in thc Masonic Digests and
Films catalog
which will be furnished upon request.